Friday, 27 May 2011
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Uganda Elects first Woman Speaker of the House of Parliament
Uganda law makers on Thursday elected Ms Rebbeca Alitwala Kadaga as Speaker for the 9th parliament. Kadaga, who had been fronted by the NRM party for the seat, won by 302 votes. Her closest rival for the speaker seat, 8th Parliament Public Accounts Committee Chairman and MP for Budadiri West Nandala Mafabi managed to garner 57 votes.
Ms Kadaga also served as Deputy Speaker in the 6th, 7th, and 8th parliament.
During the vote counting for the seat of Speaker, two votes were declared invalid. One of the invalid votes was in favour of 8th Parliament speaker Edward Ssekandi who opted not to stand for the post again. The other invalid vote was cast for MP Jacob Oulanyah.
MP Jacob Oulanya was voted as deputy speaker of parliament by 299 votes. Opposition MP Odonga Otto (Aruu county) got the same number votes as those of Nandala Mafabi contested for the Speaker of parliament seat -- 57 votes.
Who is Rebecca Kadaga
Born on 24 May 1956 in Kamuli district Rebecca Alitwala Committee attended Namasagali College for her high school education. She graduated with a law degree (LLB) from Makerere University in 1978 and later She went on to obtain the Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Center in Kampala in 1979. In 2000, she obtained the Diploma in Women's Law from the University of Zimbabwe. In 2003, she obtained the degree of Master of Arts (MA), specializing in Women's Law, also from the University of Zimbabwe. is the Woman MP for the Kamuli District Constituency
Between 1984 and 1988, she was in private law practice. From 1989 until 1996, she served as the woman MP for Kamuli District in the District Woman's Constituency. She served as the Chairperson of the University Council for Mbarara University, between 1993 and 1996. During 1996, she served as Secretary General of the East African Women Parliamentarians Association.
From 1996 until 1998, Rebecca Kadaga was the Ugandan Minister of State for Regional Cooperation (Africa and the Middle East). She then served as Minister of State for Communication and Aviation, from 1998 until 1999. Between 1999 and 2000 she was the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
ICC to investigate institutionalized gang-rape of women in Libya
May 17, 2011 -- Updated 1759 GMT (0159 HKT)
The Hague, Netherlands (CNN) -- Security forces in Libya are allegedly using sexual enhancement drugs as a "machete" and gang-raping women they stop at checkpoints, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has said.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo told CNN Monday that the court in The Hague will investigate allegations of institutionalized rape in the war-torn country.
"There are rapes. The issue is who organized them," Luis Moreno-Ocampo told CNN's Nic Robertson. "They were committed in some police barracks. Were the policemen prosecuted? What happened?" he asked.
Moreno-Ocampo said the criminal court has information about women who were stopped at checkpoints and, because they were carrying the flag of the rebels, were taken by police and gang raped.
He also said there were reports of the use of male sexual enhancement drugs, which he called a "tool of massive rape."
"There's some information with Viagra. So, it's like a machete," he said. "It's new. Viagra is a tool of massive rape.
"So we are investigating. We are not ready to present the case yet, but I hope in the coming month, we'll add charges or review the charges for rapes."
In late April, various media organizations -- including Foreign Policy magazine -- reported that Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told a closed-door U.N. Security Council hearing that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has been distributing Viagra pills to his troops "so they go out and rape."
The magazine, which attributed the information to a U.N. diplomat in the room, said Rice did not offer any evidence to support her claim.
Pfizer, the maker of the drug, could not be reached early Tuesday morning for comment.
It was also not clear whether Moreno-Ocampo used the term "Viagra" as a catch-all for male sexual enhancement drugs in general.
Perhaps the best-known alleged rape case in Libya is that of Eman al-Obeidy.
Al-Obeidy received worldwide attention on March 26, when she burst into the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli while journalists staying there were having breakfast.
She told reporters she had been taken from a checkpoint east of Tripoli and held against her will for two days while beaten and raped by 15 men loyal to Gadhafi.
While notable for the international attention it received, al-Obeidy's case may not be an exception.
Moreno-Ocampo did not say how many women might have been raped in Libya since the start of the civil war.
"The shooting is in the public space. The arresting people is so massive, so pervasive," said Moreno-Ocampo. "(But) what happens inside the barracks with women is more difficult to know."
Also Monday, the ICC sought the arrest of Gadhafi and two relatives, linking them to "widespread and systematic" attacks on civilians as they struggle to hold power in Libya.
Can conflict minerals really be controlled?
By James Melik
"There will not be a bulletproof solution," he says.There is no combination of private sector and public sector efforts which can lead to that conclusion, according to Mr Goss.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Actsigned by President Obama in August 2010 will have implications beyond the canyons of Manhattan and the wider US.
This law is not just about making America's financial systems safer - it stretches thousands of kilometres to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Coming into effect on 1 April, it forces any manufacturer subject to US regulation to report on how it sources its so-called conflict minerals - such as cassiserite, coltan and wolfranite, which are mined in the DRC and widely used in mobile phones and laptops.
But how prepared are these countries to comply with the US ruling, and how easy will it be for US companies to trace the ultimate source of the minerals they buy?
Dubious linksSome of the proceeds from these rare minerals have been used to fund conflicts in the region, creating some of the worst humanitarian crises on record.
Some of the profit goes to the foreign companies that buy the minerals, which are then exported to places like Rwanda and South Africa.
Some of the money goes to Congolese export houses, and some of the money goes to the rebel groups who tend to press gang civilians into doing the mining for them.
DRC is a poor country, but many people have become very rich.
One basket, which a person can carry on their head, can contain minerals worth several thousand dollars.
It can be flown by plane, yet people can still make a profit from it.
Getting preparedPaul Mabolia Yenga, a special adviser to the Ministry of Mines, and co-ordinator of the Kimberley process in the DRC, says the country is working very hard on this problem.
"On a local basis, we have agreements with the German Bureau of Geoscience on certification and transparency mechanisms," he says.
"We also have an agreement with organisations in the European Union, so all these agreements are part of an effort to have better traceability of our materials," he adds.
He emphasises that the DRC is a sovereign entity and it is doing everything it can to control the material going out of the DRC through the ministry of mines and the different services.
Daunting taskBy some measurements as much as 80% of the minerals in Congo may be smuggled out, but Mr Yenga does not think those numbers are accurate.
"There is material going out, but the numbers are exaggerated," he insists.
Reflecting on the problems with diamonds, before the Kimberley Process came into force, he says there was a problem with neighbouring Congo Brazzaville.
"We all had our rules but people just put diamonds in their pocket and disappeared," he says.
"But when we had the international Kimberley Process, Congo Brazzaville was obliged to have some control. We are now trying to do the same with minerals."
He maintains that DRC is creating a data base with all the statistics for production and exports, to enable any anomalies to be tracked.
"We are also creating a mechanism for whistle-blowing to alert us to any improprieties," he adds.
Concerted effortsThe SEC rules mean that US companies will have to look very closely where their minerals are coming from, so there is a chance that DRC will lose business.
The mining industry in the DRC will suffer, because the US companies cannot say with total assurance that what they are receiving is legitimate.
"Our worry is that it is becoming a burden to the people of the US to buy the material out of Congo, because too many papers are going to get involved," Mr Yenga bemoans.
According to Rick Goss, of the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC), whose members include Apple, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Nokia and Sony, the hi-tech industry has taken the lead on this issue.
"We have pioneered these concrete supply chain processes. There are other sectors of the US industry which are not as well prepared to deal with this requirement as the hi-tech sector is," he maintains.
"This is not an issue that the private sector can resolve on its own," he says.
"It is going to require the concerted effort and attention of international governments, and organisations such as the United Nations, to bring a lasting solution," he says.
"What we have is a humanitarian and political crisis in the Congo and it will take an international co-ordinated effort to address those underlying concerns," he says.
"It is clear from the illegal taxation, from the corrupt activities, that some of the mineral sourcing in the region is indeed being diverted to help fund some of the rebel activities and that is something our industry takes very seriously," he notes.
"Our primary commitment in this effort is to source legitimately and responsibly," he adds.
Will is work?Can the new rules make it watertight?
"There will not be a bulletproof solution," he says.
He says it will be impossible to make sure that not one single illicit shipment entered the supply chain.
"It is too complicated in terms of corruption - illegal taxation - to absolutely guarantee that an illegal shipment did not enter the supply chain, regardless of all private and public sector efforts," he warns.
The minerals could go elsewhere. Asian smelters are sourcing from any number of countries.
Are countries ready?Rwanda has indicated that is it not ready to meet the deadline.
Analysts say Rwanda has the most transparent political system, but it borders the east of Congo, where a lot of the minerals are sourced.
This legislation was passed in July and they simply have not had enough time, according to the mining ministry.
The ministry has indicated that it is worried about losing income - about 30% of Rwanda's income comes from mining.
Smelters who melt down the minerals and then sell them to Apple or Microsoft are worried they will not be buying from them if they cannot produce a certificate saying their minerals are conflict free.
Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) may be a convenient and low-cost means for rapidly determining a mineral's geographic origin.
The LIBS plasma emission spectrum provides a "chemical fingerprint" of any material in real-time.
Rwanda is faced with a catch-22 situation.
The country needs money to purchase the equipment which will make the system work, yet US companies may boycott minerals from the area because they cannot yet meet the necessary requirements.
There's Not an App for That
There's Not an App for That
The United Nations' agency for ICTs, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), marks today, 17 May, asWorld Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD). The purpose of the day is to “help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide”. This year the theme of the day is “Better life in rural communities with ICTs”.It is a vital - if optimistic - theme. Over three quarters of the world's poor live in rural areas. They lack economic opportunities, have difficulty accessing basic services, have a limited voice in governance and remain extremely vulnerable to shocks. In Sub-Saharan Africa they account for 67% of the total population and rural poverty in this region is deepening. Rural areas in South Africa share similar characteristics. (IFAD Rural Poverty Report 2011 - www.ifad.org/rpr2011)
But the extent to which information communication technologies (ICTs) have the ability to improve the lives of the rural poor is debatable. There is no doubt that the use of ICTs among poor people is growing rapidly. Coverage reaches further than roads, electricity, sanitation and clean water. ICTs - and in particular mobile technology - provide access to information and communication, complement successful development initiatives, drive innovation, and empower communities and individuals to co-create new solutions.
On the other side, however, is an understandable reaction to the inevitable hype. Competitions and challenges have created a slightly unrealistic environment - at once hypercompetitive and unsustainable - perhaps a case of the ICT4D sector mirroring the commercial tech bubble?
Maybe. But there are some exciting and effective ICT4D projects. And it is not atypical of deeply innovative phases for there to be a flurry of projects, prototypes, pilots – and the non-profit equivalent of exuberant venture capital – inflows of grants to the field of ICT4D. And maybe it takes a crowded podium/appstore/innovation lab, etc. to separate (and the agricultural analogy is deliberate) the wheat from the chaff. And perhaps one of the most exciting aspects is that much of the hype - the events, the formation of app labs, techno-hubs, living labs and the solutions themselves - is happening in the countries and regions most affected by rural poverty. In India, here in South Africa, and even more so just up the road in Nairobi where “technology” and “technology for development” don't sound like completely different fields.
Larger-scale successful uses of ICTs in rural development include improved access to markets, financial services and employment; increased access to education and healthcare; improvement in emergency and disaster relief; and improvement in transparency and public participation through the use of mobile phones in citizen journalism.
And it is easy to throw around the names of projects and products that have made the field seem so exciting and full of potential - m-Pesa, Ushahidi, e-seva, eSoko - or the nascent projects just starting to bubble to visibility like Jamiix.com
But how can we try and measure the value and impact of these tools in support of rural development, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa?
Well, as we celebrate WTISD today, with the emphasis on “Better life in rural communities with ICTs”, SANGONeT is pleased to announce that its 7th annual conference will focus on Information Communication Technologies for Rural Development (ICT4RD) with a theme titled, “Rural Realities, Real Solutions.”
The conference will be held from the 1-3 November 2011 at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Amongst other things, the conference agenda will include a critical review of three keywords that are constantly thrown around in conference presentations and grant applications - scale, sustainability and replication. What is the status of exiting projects? Why are so many ICT4D/ICT4RD projects stuck in pilots? What are the secrets of those projects and products that have broken free and are successfully scaling and replicating? Is there a “development innovation curve where we can map successful methods and projects?
The conference will bring together more than 250 key innovators, implementers, social entrepreneurs and thinkers from across the developing world to explore how ICT innovations can benefit rural populations in Sub-Saharan Africa. It will assess the current state of ICT4RD projects, products and policies; create an environment for matchmaking and deep knowledge-sharing; and contribute to the successful use of ICTs in response to the realities of rural development.
The real success requirements of many ICT4RD projects depend less on great software development and more on good research, effective local capacity, influence, great networks and relationships - the types of things a good NGO does well and has done well through many developmental, technological and methodological phases.
And there's not an app for that.
Click here for more information about the 2011 SANGONeT Conference or assist us in shaping the conference agenda by sharing your views and comments on Facebook, on Twitter, or by replying to ict4rd@ngopulse.org.
Matthew de Gale manages SANGONeT’s “Mobile Services for African Agriculture” programme.
David Barnard is the Executive Director of SANGONeT.
Editor, editor@sangonet.org.za
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